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By Patrick Lujan
“There’s never a shot he didn’t like,” St. Paul assistant coach Stu Schaeffer said about sophomore star Sheik Carino.
Despite shooting 2-13 in the first three quarters, Carino willed his team to victory in the fourth quarter 64-60 and just about sealed first place in the Taga Division in a huge game against the Okkodo Bulldogs Saturday night at St. Paul.
A win by the Bulldogs would’ve clinched the division title for Okkodo, and they were on their way as they led by as much as 13 points late in the third quarter and still held a double-digit lead heading into the final quarter.
That’s when Carino took his young team on his shoulders and carried them to a remarkable comeback win.
After struggling through a 0-8 shooting in the third quarter alone, Carino stepped up on both sides of the ball in the final quarter and there was nothing the Bulldogs could do to stop him.
“We had to come back because we were down almost the whole game,” Carino said. “I had to step it up, because throughout the whole game, I had bad shooting percentage.”
The largest deficit the Warriors faced was 47-34 with under three minutes to go in the third when the red-hot Aaron Blaz nailed his sixth 3-pointer of the game, leaving little doubt that the Bulldogs were well on their way to winning the division.
That’s when St. Paul changed up their defensive strategy and the momentum started to shift.
“We switched our defense, more to a man-press defense, which threw them off,” Warriors head coach Paul Pineda said.
The stifling defense, led by Carino, forced nine Okkodo turnovers in the final period as the lead slowly started to disappear.
“Our program at St. Paul is that we play defense. When we pulled off that half-court trap, it helped us in a big way,” Carino added.
Midway through the quarter, the lead shrunk to three on a short jumper by Brian Tsujii.
A steal and a coast-to-coast layup by Carino brought it to 58-57 with 1:50 remaining as the Warriors home crowd was roaring.
Carino finally broke the ice – and a 60-60 tie – with another huge steal and layup with under a minute to go.
“My team showed me a lot of heart. We’ve been battling a lot of injuries,” Pineda said.
St. Paul was coming off a loss in the finals of the Div II Far East Tournament and dropped their first two games back on Guam, so it was a huge win to say the least.
The Warriors had an emotional lift when their lone senior, point guard Tito Canovas, played in a limited role while still suffering from a meniscus injury.
“He gutted it out,” Pineda said about his senior. “Just having him on the court gave a good presence.”
“Tito is our leader,” Carino added. “I look up to him because he’s been leading us the whole season. He’s our floor general.”
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs let a great opportunity slip away. Senior guard Blaz was on fire from the outside, hitting five of his first seven shots from downtown. And when he wasn’t firing away, he was dropping dimes – six of his eight assists came in the second quarter.
Blaz finished with a game-high 22 points while Joseph Ruppen added 19 points and eight rebounds.
St. Paul big man John San Andres had a solid game with 20 points and 10 boards on 8-10 shooting.
Both teams wrap up their season Tuesday night. St. Paul needs to beat the JFK Islanders or the Bulldogs to lose to the St. John’s Knights for the Warriors to win the division outright. Okkodo needs to beat the Knights and JFK to upset St. Paul in order for it to win the division.
Quarterfinals are set for next Saturday.
Other games
St. John’s 76, Harvest 50
JFK 63, Sanchez 47
JV
Okkodo 68, St. Paul 34
St. John’s 47, Harvest 31
JFK 52, Sanchez 37
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GPS Sports Calendar
December 2024
- SU
- MO
- TU
- WE
- TH
- FR
- SA
Events for November
30th
Events for December
2nd
H.S. BOYS SOCCER
H.S. GIRLS BASKETBALL
Events for December
3rd
H.S. BASEBALL
H.S. GIRLS BASKETBALL
Events for December
4th
H.S. BOYS SOCCER
H.S. BASEBALL ALL-ISLAND MEETING
H.S. GIRLS BASKETBALL
Events for December
4th
Events for December
6th
H.S. BOYS SOCCER
H.S. GIRLS BASKETBALL
Events for December
6th
Events for December
7th
Events for December
10th
H.S. BASEBALL SEMIFINALS
H.S. GIRLS BASKETBALL QUARTERFINALS
Events for December
10th
Events for December
11th
Events for December
13th
H.S. BOYS SOCCER SEMIFINALS
H.S. GIRLS BASKETBALL SEMIFINALS
SCRAPS 4
Events for December
17th
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
Events for December
21st
Events for December
22nd
Events for December
23rd
Events for December
24th
Events for December
25th
Events for December
26th
Events for December
27th
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Events for December
28th
Events for December
29th
Events for December
30th
Weightlifting
FIRST SANCTIONED POWERLIFTING EVENT
Baseball
GUAM, AUSTRALIA TO PLAY TO ADVANCE
Basketball
LATE RUN KEEPS COUGARS UNBEATEN
Weightlifting
FIRST SANCTIONED POWERLIFTING EVENT
Baseball
GUAM, AUSTRALIA TO PLAY TO ADVANCE
COMING SOON …
Lots of 2nd Quarter Sports
QUICK HITS
Matsuno’s second place finish earned him an invitation to compete in the FCG Junior Golf Championship to be held in July 2025.
A junior at St. John’s, he is also currently leading the IIAAG high school All-Island golf competition, chasing the coveted individual high school golf title.